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Journal of Financial Stability Vol. 33 2017

How does long-term finance affect economic volatility?

Asli Demirgüç-Kunt; Bálint L. Horváth1; Harry Huizinga2,3

1 University of Bristol · 2 Tilburg University · 3 Centre for Economic Policy Research

open access

Abstract

In an approach analogous to Rajan and Zingales (1998), we examine how the ability to access long-term debt affects firm-level growth volatility. We find that firms in industries with stronger preference to use long-term finance relative to short-term finance experience lower growth volatility in countries with better-developed financial systems, as these firms may benefit from reduced refinancing risk. Institutions that facilitate the availability of credit information and contract enforcement mitigate refinancing risk and therefore growth volatility associated with short-term financing. Increased availability of long-term finance reduces growth volatility in crisis as well as non-crisis periods.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfs.2017.10.005
Volume
33
Pages
41-59
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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